In that piece, I argue that the shift in sponsorship from a Southern brand (Winston Cigarettes) to a Northern brand (Nextel-Sprint) along with the influx of Northern drivers and the shift in scheduling from largely Southern to Northern tracks began in 1996 and started the sport's decline that continues today.

This article continues that trend with a look at the influx of Northern crew chiefs and car owners and how the loss of the single-car operation in favor of larger more corporate-run teams continued to change and ruin the sport as it continues to evolve beyond the point of recognition as the sport dies a little more each year.

What have we learned? Much like the driver decrease in Southern drivers, which once enjoyed a literal 2:1 advantage of Southern born to Northern, Northern crew chiefs, much like the drivers in the sport themselves, have taken over the sport and are now the majority.

Note how I placed all the New Englanders together, which I consider the worst of the plague because due to their prevalent (but not exclusive) affluence/hoity-toity culture would be less inclined to identify with the racing scene than someone from the Mid or far West.

Should we expect anything different when this demographic is that to which NASCAR is pandering and to whom it would like to see its core audience?

2010 Totals: 16 Northern Car Owners, 12 Southern Car Owners. Once again, as a continuing but unexpected trend, Northern Car Owners have overtaken Southern Car Owners in just 14 short years. And they wonder why the sport is changing? Too much influence.

Conclusions: While the North Carolina base surprisingly held their own only dropping one team, South Carolina, Alabama, Virginia, and Arkansas disappeared from the map entirely. Michigan doubled in size.

Doing this research taught me just how hard it is to own a team and how expensive it must be. For example, everyone knows that George Gillett bankrolls Richard Petty Motorsports even though The King is the honorary figurehead centerpiece. Tony Stewart for all his millions in endorsements and popularity, still only owns just his car of his technical two-car team.

This is done for publicity only. Why not put someone in charge who has more of a passion than a Gillette or a John Henry (Roush-Fenway Racing) when the former clearly have bigger endeavors and more pressing ventures than racing? It's just smart business.

Anyway, Gilette owns three of the current (but likely to reduce) RPM cars with Richard Petty owning only the A.J. Allmindinger ride. This shows just how much money it takes and how without this alliance, Petty would have long been out the door even quicker than some believe to be the inevitable due to lack of funding and competitiveness which I hope never happens.

What that means is sure, NEMCO Motorsports is still around today, but they are a non-factor. Wasn't the case in 1996 since the field was more level. What does it tell you when NASCAR's biggest names: Bud Moore, Robert Yates, Cale Yarborough, and Petty all formed their own race teams at one time and only Petty remains, albeit, just a a thread?

How many "family teams" run today? NEMCO, Michael Waltrip Racing, Robby Gordon Racing, Tommy Baldwin Jr. and James Finch and we all see how far that gets them. Petty can't do it on his own and is struggling. James Finch has had some success with Brad Keselowski (Talladega win) and Mike Bliss' Nationwide win last year but he lost those drivers).

Baldwin doesn't run all races and Nemechek can't always qualify and when he does, he's 100% "start and park" now. Waltrip? Gibbs? They've gone corporate and turned into monster organizations because they've had to, to survive and compete. This is NASCAR's biggest problem. Lack of parity and the good old days of "showing up to the track and racing with what you brought."

Only Hendrick Motorsports (three teams) and Robert Yates Racing (two teams) ran multiple cars. Obviously Hendrick Motorsports ascended to the top while Yates stunningly went the other way and no longer exists (at least on a relevant scale). Today we know most teams run four and this is what most fans fear: Ten 4-car teams, which waters down the product.

Then you have all the BS "technical-alliance" teams like Red Bull/Hendrick/Stewart-Haas, Joe Gibbs/Michael Waltrip, and Earnhardt-Ganassi/Richard Childress Racing. Its basically the same team winning, just a different name. i.e when Tony Stewart wins, he immediately thanks his " satellite team" Hendrick Motorsports.

Lame, but true.

A lot has changed in the fast growing, progressive sport. Once again, none of it for the better.

Information from Wikipedia and ESPN.com, directly contributed to the content of this article.